Packaging and method of use

ABSTRACT

Packaging container having a chamber wherein the chamber comprises a plurality of corresponding products ( 1 ) sized such that a number of such products essentially completely fills the chamber, the packaging comprising at least one removable portion ( 4, 6 ) dimensioned such that the at least one removable portion ( 4, 6 ) can be removed from the packaging, rearranged to adopt an expanded form and placed within the chamber, having the effect of reducing the volume of the chamber available for the products ( 1 ) by n times the volume of a contained product ( 1 ), where n is an integer, whilst retaining the feature that a number of such products ( 1 ) essentially completely fills the chamber.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to packaging container having a chambercomprising a plurality of corresponding products, particularly a bespokeorder of products.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART

When products are manufactured in a factory a number of products areoften packaged together in a group for ease of handling. This isespecially the case if the product being manufactured is relativelysmall, such as consumable products. In particular, if a factory producesvarious varieties of a product, it is typical to package together agroup of products of a single variety, as this is simpler and morecost-effective. For example, if it is a food product, then a group ofproducts of the same flavour or recipe may be packaged together.

On occasion factories will provide variety-pack type packagingcontaining different varieties in a single group packaging. However suchvariety packs are generally intended for sale to a consumer and maythemselves be packaged together in a group packaging.

Such groupings can then be conveniently shipped to wholesalers or, morerecently, to ecommerce shipping handlers.

Under normal circumstances a wholesaler would sell on thefactory-packaged grouping on to a retailer without interfering with thefactory packaging. A retailer would then typically remove the productsfrom the group packaging for sale.

However, shipping handlers may wish to provide a bespoke service toonline customers. In such a scenario the shipping handler removes theproducts from the factory packaging before preparing a bespoke order andpackaging the bespoke order for delivery to the consumer.

In particular, for some types of products, shipping handlers may wish tooffer to the public the possibility of choosing for themselves the mixof varieties they would like to be delivered to their home. In thiscase, the varieties ordered will be selected by the shipping handleraccording to the order and their bespoke order placed into new packagingand shipped to the consumer.

As the order is bespoke, the number of products to be packaged by theshipping handler will inevitably differ from the number of productspresent in the group packaging.

In this case, the packaging from the factory which groups togetherproducts of the same variety is seen as no longer of any use to theshipping handler and is discarded. The shipping handler then uses theirown packaging to prepare the bespoke order, and the packaging may bechosen based on the order size. This is wasteful of the factory grouppackaging.

For example in a typical pick-by-light system, the picking sequencestarts at the beginning of a zone where the operator scans a bar codedaddress label attached to the shipping carton or tote. The display tellsthe operator which products to pick and how many of each.

The pick-to-light system that is widely used in industry causes a lot ofpackaging waste. This is because the packaging used from the factory isremoved and discarded before the product is placed into thepick-to-light racking. The pickers then use new packaging to pack theconsumer order, often having different sized boxes to different orderquantities e.g. a box for 5 products, a box for 10 products, a box for15 products etc.

WO2011/32735 discloses transport packaging for producing a stackabledisplay packaging, wherein a portion of the packaging can be insertedinto the packaging. CA 2010833 discloses a combination shipper cartonthat can be rearranged to provide slots within the container toaccommodate dividers.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In a first aspect the invention relates to packaging container having achamber wherein the chamber comprises a plurality of correspondingproducts sized such that a number of such products essentiallycompletely fills the chamber, the packaging comprising at least oneremovable portion dimensioned such that the at least one removableportion can be removed from the packaging, rearranged to adopt anexpanded form and placed within the chamber, having the effect ofreducing the volume of the chamber available for the products by n timesthe volume of a contained product, where n is an integer, whilstretaining the feature that a number of such products essentiallycompletely fills the chamber.

Thus, the invention provides that the packaging container can beessentially filled with a number of corresponding products and can beemptied and refilled with a fewer number of corresponding products. Theremaining space in the chamber is taken up by the presence of the atleast one removable portion. Thus the packaging container can be used todeliver a factory-packaged grouping to a shipping handler. The shippinghandler can then empty the packaging container of its contents, andreuse the container to package a bespoke order, even when the order isfor a number of products which does not fill the packaging container.

By “essentially completely fills the chamber” is meant that a sufficientnumber of products would snugly fit within the packaging, leaving nofreedom of movement of the contained products.

The term ‘removable’ means that the portion comprises features whichenable the removal of the portion from the packaging container cleanlyand neatly without causing damage to the packaging or the removableportion, e.g. by pulling the portion away from the body of thepackaging.

The invention is of particular applicability to the ordering of bespokeconsumer products, such as coffee or tea products, preferably tea, e.g.stored in a capsule for extraction by a beverage machine.

It is preferred that each removable portion reduces the available volumeby from 1 to 30 products, more preferably from 1 to 14 products, mostpreferably from 2 to 6 products.

The packaging container may be made from a wide variety of materials butis typically made from cardboard and can adopt an essentially flat formfor storage.

The packaging container may take a variety of shapes and sizes, however,typically the chamber is cuboid.

The products may take a variety of shapes and sizes, however, typicallythe products are cuboid.

Preferably the removal of the removable portion does not alter theavailable volume of the chamber.

The removable portions preferably form at least a part of one side ofthe packaging, preferably a portion or the whole of a top face of thepackaging. Preferably the at least one removable portion is each a flatsheet of cardboard comprising pre-folds.

The packaging container may have any number of removable portions as isnecessary, however the present invention has been found to beparticularly effective when the number of removable portions is from 1to 4, preferably 2.

In one particular embodiment, there are two removable portions whichbetween them form substantially an entire face of the packaging.

The at least one removable portion is preferably attached to packagingby a weakened region, preferably perforations.

A discussed, the packaging container contains a plurality ofcorresponding products. Therefore, in an initial preferred embodiment,the packaging is filled with a plurality of corresponding products. Forexample, this is the condition the packaging would leave a factory andpreferably would be all of the same variety.

In this embodiment, the chamber of the packaging container preferablycomprises from 4 to 100 products, preferably from 6 to 50, morepreferably from 10 to 30, prior to reduction of volume. This number ofproducts means that a bespoke order for any number of products can bemore easily met by the reduction in volume provided by the removableportions.

It has been found that the present invention is particularly effectivewhen the products are cuboid and are sized such that a number of suchproducts essentially completely fill the chamber.

Therefore in a subsequent preferred embodiment, the packaging is filledwith a combination of a plurality of corresponding products and at leastone removable portion in its expanded form. Preferably the productscomprise a number of different varieties, for example a number ofdifferent tea types.

In a preferred embodiment each removable portion can take the form ofmore than one expanded form, preferably two expanded forms, eachexpanded form reducing the volume of the chamber by a different amount.In a particularly preferred embodiment, each removable portion iscapable of adopting a first expanded form having the volume of 2products and a second expanded form having the volume of 4 products.

In a second aspect, the invention relates to a method of preparing apackage of bespoke products to a consumer who has placed a bespokeorder, the method involving

-   -   a. obtaining a package as described herein containing a        plurality of products,    -   b. removing a number of products from the package,    -   c. adding a number of varieties of product fewer in number than        were removed in step b, to the packaging according to the        bespoke order.    -   d. removing at least one removable portion from the packaging,    -   e. rearranging the removed portion to adopt an expanded form and        placing it in the packaging so as to take up the difference in        volume between the number of products removed and the number of        products added.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be illustrated by way of example and withreference to the following figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is an image of a packaging container according to the presentinvention comprising a plurality of corresponding products.

FIG. 2 is an image of the packaging container shown in FIG. 1 wherein apanel has been removed.

FIG. 3 is an image of the packaging shown in FIG. 2 wherein a secondpanel has been removed.

FIG. 4 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 3 with the removedpanels nearby.

FIG. 5 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 4 wherein theproducts have been removed and one removed panel has been rearranged.

FIG. 6 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 5 wherein therearranged panel has been placed in the packaging container.

FIG. 7 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 6 wherein aplurality of corresponding products have been placed in the packagingcontainer.

FIG. 8 is an image of the packaging container of FIG. 7 wherein a newcover is added to provide a sealed package.

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging containercontaining a plurality of corresponding products.

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging containercontaining 16 corresponding products and wherein a rearranged packagingelement has been added.

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation in plan, of two packagingcontainers containing 12 corresponding products and wherein one or tworearranged packaging elements have been added.

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging containercontaining 10 corresponding products and wherein a rearranged packagingelement has been added.

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation in plan, of a packaging containercontaining 8 corresponding products and wherein two rearranged packagingelements have been added.

Turning to the figures, as shown in FIG. 1, at a tea factory, capsulescontaining tea are packaged into cuboid packages 1 or cartons, eachcontaining a number of capsules of tea of the same type. 16 such cuboidcartons are placed within a cuboid packaging 2 or case, according to thepresent invention, in two adjacent columns of 8 packages. For example,the packaging could contain 16 packages, each of which contains 12capsules of tea, all 12×16 capsules being of the same tea type. As canbe seen the 16 packages essentially completely fills the chamber of thepackaging, as none of the packages is free to move within the packaging.

The case lid is closed but not sealed/taped. The case is then placed ona pallet and sent to the packer.

At the packer the packer removes the case from the pallet and ‘peelsoff’ the perforated lid flaps 4, 6 from the case and saves them forlater, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. The case is then placed into the backof the pick-to-light racking, with the product still in the case (savestime and minimises handling of the product).

When a bespoke order is taken, at the front of the pick-to-lightracking, the picker uses an empty case (previously emptied) as shown inFIG. 5 and picks the different flavours of tea according to the consumerorder.

If the consumer orders 16 cartons then no adaptation of the case isrequired as the case is originally sized for 16 cartons. The consumercan order in multiples of 2 from 8 to 16 cartons e.g. 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

To fill the void/space in the case, the picker reuses the previouslyremoved lid flaps 4,6 and folds them along the pre perforated lines andinserts into the case. As shown in FIG. 5 the lid flaps 4,6 havespecific perforation so the they can be folded to fill the void of 4 or2 cartons. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 one flap has been folded to take upthe volume of four cartons of tea.

As shown in FIG. 7, the 12 cartons of the bespoke order fill theremaining volume of the packaging. When the order is finished a new,premium lid is placed over the case as shown in FIG. 8 and is bandedtogether, along with the consumer address label, ready to be sent to theconsumer. Thus, the packaging has retained the feature that a number ofsuch products, in this case 12, essentially completely fills the chamberof the packaging.

According to this arrangement, all possible orders from 8, 10, 12, 14and 16 can be accommodated. FIG. 9 shown an arrangement where the orderis for 16 cartons, FIG. 10 is for 14 cartons, FIG. 11 shows twodifferent possible configurations for 12 cartons, FIG. 12 shows aconfiguration for 10 cartons and FIG. 13 shows a configuration for 8cartons. In each case, all of the available volume of the packaging istaken up by a combination of product 1 or expanded flaps 4,6.

1. Packaging container having a chamber wherein the chamber comprises aplurality of corresponding products sized such that a number of suchproducts essentially completely fills the chamber, the packagingcomprising at least one removable portion dimensioned such that the atleast one removable portion can be removed from the packaging,rearranged to adopt an expanded form and placed within the chamber,having the effect of reducing the volume of the chamber available forthe products by n times the volume of a contained product, where n is aninteger, whilst retaining the feature that a number of such productsessentially completely fills the chamber.
 2. Packaging according toclaim 1, wherein each removable portion reduces the available volume byfrom 1 to 30 products, more preferably from 1 to 14 products, mostpreferably from 2 to 6 products
 3. Packaging according to claim 1,wherein the chamber is cuboid.
 4. Packaging according to claim 1,wherein the products are cuboid.
 5. Packaging according to claim 1wherein the removal of the removable portion does not alter theavailable volume of the chamber.
 6. Packaging according to claim 1,wherein the removable portions form at least part of one side of thepackaging, preferably a top face of the packaging.
 7. Packagingaccording to claim 1, wherein each removable portion is each a flatsheet of cardboard comprising pre-folds.
 8. Packaging according to claim1, wherein the number of removable portions is from 1 to 4, preferably2.
 9. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each removable portion isattached to the packaging by a weakened region, preferably perforations.10. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein each removable portion cantake the form of more than one expanded form, each expanded formreducing the volume of the chamber by a different amount.
 11. Packagingaccording to claim 1, wherein the chamber is filled with a plurality ofcorresponding products, preferably all of the same variety. 12.Packaging according to claim 11, wherein the chamber comprises from 4 to100 products, preferably from 6 to 50, more preferably from 10 to 30.13. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein the packaging is filled witha combination of a plurality of corresponding products, preferablycomprising a number of varieties, and at least one removable portion inits expanded form.
 14. Packaging according to claim 1, wherein eachcorresponding product comprises capsules of a beverage material,preferably tea or coffee, more preferably tea.
 15. A method of preparinga package of bespoke products to a consumer who has placed a bespokeorder, the method involving a. obtaining a package according to any oneof the preceding claims containing a number of products, b. removing anumber of products from the package, c. adding a number of varieties ofproduct fewer in number than were removed in step b, to the packagingaccording to the bespoke order. d. removing at least one removableportion from the packaging, e. rearranging the removed portion to adoptan expanded form and placing it in the packaging so as to take up thedifference in volume between the number of products removed and thenumber of products added.